The final paper will be a synthesis and comparison of ideas that address how we learn about the environment and how we (as a society) can use that information to make good decisions. Speth claims that we need a new structure for the relationship between our economy and nature. Norton provides philosophical, epistemological and practical background information for how we can use adapative management to address problems and learn.
Your previous two papers addressed components of this question. Assignment one was supposed to address the structure of information and how, by knowing the structure you would be able to become more literate. Assignment two addressed what knowledge needs to have a component of direct experience and how you would get this. It is important to note that although many of you recieved full points for those assignments, you didn't really get to the meat of the assignment; structure and non-substitutable experiences. Please don't assume that you can just cut and paste from these previous assignments. That might work, but don't count on it.
Your review of a classic will also fit in to this paper. You don't need to review the whole book. Really you just need to find a few key concepts from the book you read that add to your argument. This should be easy to do.
The overall project has four steps:
1) (10 points)Topic and outline for the written part. This should include paragraph by paragraph outline with references. This should clearly show the flow of the paper.
2) (10 points) in class discussion of your ideas. We will have time in class during the last two days to go through your ideas. During this time, you should be able to use the discussion to improve your ideas. You will be graded on participation during these days.
3) (10 points) Your final paper will be graded based on this simple rubric: Did you have something interesting to say and I felt the paper was worth recommending for someone else to read. This may seem very subjective (which is true) but it's only 10 out of the 30 total for this project. I'm not judging on whether I agree or whether what you say is "true", but rather was it a contribution to how we think about learning and the environment. The presentations and discussion will be a good testing area for your ideas.
I look forward to reading these papers.
